United Pulls SkyWest From RDM Ground Duties
SkyWest Airlines, which operates United Express and Delta Connection flights out of Redmond Airport, said Thursday it was told this week that United will switch to another customer service provider for flight check-in and baggage handling at the airport.
The change potentially affects up to 26 Redmond-based SkyWest workers. But the move won?t affect the number of flights out of RDM ? seven daily United Express and two Delta Connection departures ? according to Marissa Snow, manager of corporate communications for St. George, Utah-based SkyWest. And SkyWest will still will fly and service the planes.
?We will be transitioning out of the ground handling in Redmond,? Snow told NewsChannel 21. ?There will be a different airline or vendor handling the customer service, the gate check-in and the bag handling.?
Snow said SkyWest only learned of the change a couple of days ago, and did not yet know when that transition would take place, and calls to United Airlines for other details have not yet been returned.
?We currently have 26 employees in Redmond, and we?re working to make sure they have alternative opportunities, inside and outside the company,? Snow said.
Snow also said it had not yet been determined whether SkyWest will continue to handle the customer service operations for the two Delta Connection flights.
Redmond is one of several airports where the changes will take place, she added.
?From a SkyWest perspective, there?s a number of transitions that will be taking place,? due to the change in the contract with United, Snow said. ?So there?s a number of SkyWest locations where we?ll be transitioning out? of those duties.